


Dark Town

by SynchronicityRose



Series: Into The Pines [1]
Category: Wayward Pines (TV)
Genre: Drama, Implied/Referenced Brainwashing, M/M, Near Future, Psychological Drama, Rating: PG13, Reckoning, Season/Series 01, Some Humor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-26
Updated: 2016-09-28
Packaged: 2018-07-26 21:20:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 11,349
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7590865
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SynchronicityRose/pseuds/SynchronicityRose
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Do not try to leave. Do not discuss the past. Do not discuss your life before. Always answer the phone if it rings. Work hard, be happy and enjoy your life, in Wayward Pines.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Where Am I?

**One**

He could hear the steady beep of a heart monitor. His back pressed to something warm and damp. A little lumpy. Damion, aged nineteen exhaled harshly, going into a brief coughing spell as he slowly and carefully sits up.

“Hey. Looks like you’re finally up.”

Whipping his head to the right quickly regretting doing so soon after, Damion’s vision finally clears to see a young man about his age sitting in a chair beside his bed. Dressed in a black vest with white sleeves and black jeans that fit his legs. His hands are folded neatly in his lap.

When Damion looks at him memories begin to resurface. His brother Rami and his father. They were all in a car. He had just gotten home from Uni. A happy occasion. Then the sound of tire’s screeching. Screaming. He isn’t sure if it’s his or his family’s.

“Where am I?” He spoke out. Clearly shaken up. Already in a seating position. “My family…where are they?”

“Careful, careful,” the other young man said noting how Damion nearly shot out of bed. “You’re still injured. It was a pretty nasty accident. I was told by nurse Pam they didn’t make it.”

Damion felt the anger at first. Then the guilt. The sorrow until he felt nothing. Almost completely numb to any feeling. “Okay,” he breathed out. Eyes narrowed at the young man. “Where am I and who are you?”

The young man responded with calm. “You’re in a hospital, in Wayward Pines, Idaho. And my name’s ‘Jason Higgins’. Senior of Wayward Pines Academy. I know this sounds ridiculously cheesy, but I wanted to be the one you see when you woke up.”

An awkward silence followed.

“…Can you hand me my clothes?”

“Of course.”

Damion quickly slipped out the robe and in his regular clothes. A stray strand of dark hair fell in his face, brushing it away. Looking around there’s an odd sense of familiarity. The left side of his face is still bruised and scraped from the accident, but other than that he feels somewhat fine.

“Whoa,” Jason took hold of his wrist halting him. “You can’t leave yet. You’re still injured.”

“I just wanted to take a look around town.” Damion responded. “I swear, I’m fine.”

Jason held a look of unsureness on his features, but complied to Damion’s request. He contacted Pam Pilcher. When she gave the okay he was led down the dim lighted halls. Oddly enough there was no one else other than Pam there it seemed.

Stepping out of the hospital Damion found himself in a street he assumed was downtown. Small shops lined the streets across from one another. “Can you eat at all?” Jason asked. “I’ll pay for your meal, if you’re hungry.”

“You don’t have to.” Damion replied but his stomach betrayed him. An embarrassed flush crossed his face earning a snicker from Jason.

“Looks like someone’s lying.”

“Shut up.”

People around him sat at tables outside the restaurant. Talking and smiling. Everyone seemed to smile in this town he noticed. Jason and Damion sit at the bar stand. Behind it is a pretty woman. Her hair was long and dark brown or a reddish color, friendly brown eyes lifted to meet Damion.

“Jason, hello. Who’s this?”

Damion, sensing that she seemed to be alright smiled politely back. “I’m Damion ma’am. Damion White. Nice to meet you.”

She rubbed a wet cloth over her hands. “You look like you’ve been in a mess. What happened to your face?”

“Car accident I guess. I don’t remember much.”

The woman nodded in understanding. The smile never leaving her face once. “I see. Well, I’m glad you’re alright. My name’s Beverly by the way. What can I get you two?” Jason ordered a medium rare steak while Damion had a craving for a bloody hamburger.

Jason had a look of disgust for a moment. “Bloody? You a vampire or something?”

Damion rolled his eyes. “Funny, Higgins. It’s so tender and delicious that way.”

While Beverly prepares their meal he looks back out into the town. There were hardly any cars unlike in New York. Everyone seemed to walk a lot. “How small is this town?”

“Pretty small,” Jason shrugged. Seeming to look at something but Damion doesn’t know what it is. “There’s not a whole lot to do here but it keeps kids out of trouble. You know? Makes it easier on our sheriff.”

Even odder. A whole town with only one sheriff running the place.

The food was warm and filling. Damion ate his quick yet tried to savor every bite. His water the cleanest he had ever gulped down.

For some reason that odd sense of familiarity returned. Damion had never been to this town before. And he was sure he had never seen Beverly at all.

She slides the receipt specifically over to Damion first. Smiling. This time it didn’t meet her eyes.

“Um…thank you, for the meal.” Damion spoke up.

“Thank YOU for stopping by. Come see me if you need any help here, alright?”

When he and Jason took their leave the chilled night air slapped gently at his face. Curious, he looks down at the receipt Beverly gave him noticing the writing on it. **_There are no crickets, in Wayward Pines_**

“Damion? You coming?” Jason called from up ahead. “C’mon, it’s getting late. We gotta get settled in so I can show you your new school tomorrow.”

“Sure thing, sorry just spaced out.”

As he passed by a bush he heard it. The unmistakable sound of crickets chirping away. With a raised brow after looking at the paper Beverly gave him, he maneuvered his hand through the bush. His hand did grasp onto something but it was not a cricket. Just a small box. Simulating the sound of crickets.

 _What…the hell?_ Had been the only logical choice of wording. He quickly went off back to Jason after placing the small box back where it was.

The night was silent after he had flipped a switch on the bottom.

Damion had caught up with Jason whom in his hands, held a package of sorts along with a letter. Opening it up it revealed a set of neat and pristine school clothes for ‘Wayward Pines Academy’

along with an acceptance letter.

As if they knew he would be here.


	2. Welcome To School

Dressed in his school uniform after waking up in his new house, Damion made his way to the academy. He could feel fall about ready to make its mark. That slight chill in the air, the way some of the leaves on the pine trees that surrounded the town began to change into various beautiful colors.

Yet the one thing Damion noticed about this particular school had been the way many students, literally watched him. Hands clasped behind their back. Seeming to study him as if he were an experiment.

“That’s…not creepy at all.” He murmured.

“Mr. White,” He looked up quickly to see a tall, blond haired woman approach him. Her eyes a sharp blue color. Calculating. With of course a smile like everyone else. “Not related to ‘Carrie White’ by any chance are you?” She teased. Playfully giving his shoulder a nudge in which he gave a weak laugh at the _Carrie_ reference.

“No ma’am,” he smiled. Seeing as that’s what everyone seemed to do in this town. Hoping to fit in. “If I were I’d have her powers wouldn’t I? Be fortunate I don’t.”

She chuckled introducing herself. An arm wraps around his shoulders making him a tad uncomfortable.

“I’m ‘Megan Fisher’, your teacher in Biology and History. Now I know you must have a ton of questions about this town am I right?”

He nodded. “Just a few, I guess.” _First of all, what’s up with the fake crickets? And why the heck do people smile every single day? Smiles that seem forced unlike a natural one_

Megan gave him a light pat on one of his shoulders. “We’ll get to them as soon as possible. But first I’d like to show you around a bit. You already know ‘Jason Higgins’ correct? He’s the one who visited you last morning.”

“Yeah I remember him. He seems pretty cool.”

Inside it was a little more ‘chaotic’ then outside. Students scrambling to get here or there. Couples taking ever so long to say a simple ‘see you soon’. Some gave him curious or flat out odd looks that he ignored, just like back at his New York school.

After she showed him his locker, introduced him to a few other of his teachers and future senior class mates he was then brought into her office. The blinds had been closed earning a collective groan outside when she closed them.

“Alright, Damion,” Megan began motioning him to sit in front of her desk. “I’m going to ask you a few questions.”

“Alright. Shoot.”

“Where are you from, Damion?”

He blinked. Tilting his head. “New York.”

She wrote something down. “And where do you live?”

“New York.” He answered simply.

“And where is home?”

“…New York.”

“Do you miss home, Damion?”

He gave another nod. He missed it terribly already. “Yeah,” he replied softly. “A lot. Had a few friends there…family.” Damion could only imagine how panicked they all must be.

She folded her hands under her chin. Those calculating blue eyes seeming to look right through him. “You must be pretty close to them. Can you tell me their names?”

Damion opened his mouth once only to close it. Shit. He couldn’t remember. Or maybe he didn’t know. “I…I’m not sure.”

Megan nodded. “Hm. You miss them yet you don’t even remember them. Why won’t your father take you home, if you miss them Damion?”

The dark blond haired teen bit the inside of his cheek. Lowering his head. “He’s dead. That’s why.”

“And your mother? Where is she?”

“I don’t remember her. She was real busy since I was three, maybe four years old I guess.”

She wrote something down again.

Damion could feel his head begin to spin. Holding the side of it tenderly. _If I miss New York so much, why…can’t I remember it?_ This to him sounded something so much like out of those Kingdom Hearts games he played when he was a boy. When Sora, Donald and Goofy arrived in Castle Oblivion but couldn’t remember anything as they moved up to each new level. Such an odd feeling.

He feels a chilled hand over his.

“I’m so sorry for your loss, Damion,” Megan began softly. “It must be unimaginably hard to lose your father and not know of your mother…but. I promise you that here in Wayward Pines that you will start anew. A new chapter begins for you in your ‘Book of Life’. If you’re ever in need of any guidance, please don’t hesitate to come to me dear.”

Damion gave her a light smile. Perhaps he had misjudged her after all. “Thank you, Mrs. Fisher.”

“You’re so welcome. Now! Do you remember where your second hour is?”

“Yes ma’am.”

**~__________________~**

Damion ate only half of his lunch, not quite hungry giving the rest to another student who gladly accepted it.

“Not hungry?” The other boy asked.

“Nah. I had a big breakfast.”

The boy shook his head, eating another mouthful of potatoes. “Well, I’d recommend eating. You won’t feel up to it after Orientation next week.”

Orientation? This caught Damion’s interest. Looking to Jason for answer’s or his friends. “Orientation?”

A pretty girl with dark brown hair in a pony-tail answered. “It’s nothing too serious,” she gave the one a boy a rather fowl expression. “Don’t listen to him. It’s just a thing we all have to go through to be official school students. That’s all.”

His nerves relaxed some at least. “Oh,” he breathed out. “Thought it was something horrible. You know?”

Jason looked as if he wanted to beat the other student to a pulp. Knowing he almost gave Damion such a huge secret about the town away before Megan told him and two other students.

**~____________________~**

Night fell upon the town of Wayward Pines. Damion had gotten out of school much earlier, but he was curious about the woods close to the town. Nobody seemed to go in them. Heck, nobody seemed to pay too much attention to them.

He wrapped his jacket further around his body. Blocking the cold air.

His flashlight being the only source of light.

But the swift unmistakable movement of a body behind him caught his attention. He whirled around, breath hitched in his throat seeing nothing was there. Fear trickled down his spine like ice cold fingers trailing down his back. His hairs stood on end. What was it? What was out here with him?

“Jason?” He choked out. Moving his flashlight. “Is…that you? Are you just, trying to scare me?”

A savage roaring caused him to jump a foot in the air. His flashlight landed on the ground leaving him enclosed in darkness. Harsh breathing escaped, clutching his chest tight. What he saw made his legs almost buckle. More hostile noises sounded out.

Damion could see it finally, watching as the creature tilted its head back. Lips curled in a feral snarl. Pointed tongue licking its lips at his mouth-watering scent.

_Dinnertime_

“No!” Damion shouted. Managing to get out of the way as the creature leapt for him, throwing his flashlight hard at the thing’s face and just ran like hell out of the woods. Low hanging branches scraped and slapped at his face as he wipes them away. The creature still right behind him howling or roaring.

_I’m DEAD. I’m dead, I’m dead, I’m dead, I’m-_

A bullet whizzed just inches above his head. The sound of the creature howling in pain sounded behind.

Damion didn’t stop running until he was met with the smoking end of Sherriff Pope’s rifle, watching as the man slowly lowered it.

“…Are you alright, Damion?”

Damion swallowed. “F-Fine. I’m just fine…Thanks for-.”

“Get in my car. Now.”

With his head lowered, Damion slowly trudged after the sheriff. Daring to look over his shoulder at the sight of the dead creature. The ride back into town was a silent one. Eventually, Damion was led into his sheriff office receiving quizzical stares from the receptionist Arlene.

“What were you doing out in the woods, Damion?” Pope asked after the man sat down in his chair.

“I was only going for a walk. That’s all. Sir…That thing you killed. What was it?”

The expression on Pope’s face would have made him shiver with fright, had he not seen that creature. “None of your damn business, that’s what. This is my town Damion. We have RULES,” he pointed to a paper hung up in the corner of his office listing seven town rules/laws if you will.

“If I ever catch you out in those woods again you’ll regret crossing me. Nobody, I repeat NOBODY is allowed in those woods. Now, I want you to go back home. Get some sleep. Study hard for school and forget tonight ever happened. Forget what you saw. Just. Forget it.”

Damion had about argued back when he closed his mouth again. Muttering a ‘yes sir’ and carried on back home.

It was going to be insanely difficult to forget about that creature.

Worse than any mere vampire or werewolf he read about in comics or books. That much he knew of it.


	3. The Truth

The rest of his days went by in another, repeated blur. There were no whispers around town about him sneaking off in the woods running into what he could only, possibly call a creature from Hell. None of that. He had a feeling Sherriff Pope made sure that word would never get out, about what Damion saw.

He started to make friends. That made his days a little easier he supposed. Other than spending time with Jason, Damion got to know some others. Two as a matter of fact who were to be with him during Orientation.

“So what do you do during your free-time, Damion?” One boy asked at breakfast.

“Well, I like writing.” He answered.

“Do you write poetry?” A girl with light blond hair in a French braid asked. There was a little sparkle in her eyes when she asked. Leaning in a bit close to his liking.

“No. No poetry, sorry.”

The girl’s shoulders slumped when she realized he was moving a bit away from her. Lip formed in a small pout before nodding in understanding. “What do you write then?”

He could feel his face heat up slightly. Fanfiction had all he’d ever written in all honesty. Damion couldn’t tell these people that. Heck, they probably wouldn’t have a clue seeing as TV looked to be pretty much non-existent here.

“….Things. You know,” _Crap. I’m stuttering_ “Horror, drama, a bit of angst…mostly horror and stuff.”

The boy across from him grinned wide. Snickering. “Oh dude: You write ‘THAT’ don’t you?”

Damion actually didn’t write sexual scenes in his works but to play along he feigned a devious grin of his own. “You caught me.” Resisting the urge to roll his eyes, he high-fived the other.

“Alright: Ryan, Bella, give him some room to breathe,” Jason walked up to their table as Bella rolled her eyes. Damion could feel a dislike between them and Jason. “C’mon Damion, Mrs. Fisher wants you, Helga and Ricky. It’s time.”

He found himself in a white room. Helga, a black haired girl looked downright nervous while a boy with blond hair, Ricky looked just comfortable. Megan entered the room with a film projector. She dimmed the lights.

Damion blinked when they were shown pictures of other past students. Noting one that had Jason in it.

Megan explained that all those students they were seeing had gone through this. “We only allow those, we believe…are truly ready?”

“Ready for what?” Ricky asked with a raised eyebrow.

Megan smiled. It doesn’t meet her eyes. “For the truth.”

Damion shared a look with Helga who shook her head. Frowning in thought as she looked at Ricky next who shrugged one shoulder, focusing on the picture of a field Megan brought up. “Now, can any of you tell me where this is?”

Helga shyly answered. “It looks like Wayward Pines, ma’am.”

Megan giggled. “Close dear. But not close enough.” She zoomed in. “This photograph was taken 14 years ago. About 100 yards beyond the perimeter of Wayward Pines. Now take another look.”

Damion leaned forward in his seat a bit, squinting his eyes. This photo did indeed look different than the last. Tilting his head. “I do see something…it’s in the corner, right there.” He pointed to the top left.

“Very good, Damion,” Megan praised. She pointed at the thing in the picture. “This photograph gave us proof of their existence.”

“Bigfoot? Maybe Sasquatch?” Ricky answered with a smirk.

Damion and Helga chuckle softly but Megan is very serious. “Bigfoot and Sasquatch are alone, are they not?” She questioned. “The next photo was taken three months later. It cost us two lives.”

The next picture sent chills up Damion’s back all the way down again. Sweat trickled down the side of his head. The fangs…the bald head. The blood-thirsty looking eyes. “What is that Mrs. Fisher?” Helga asked.

“We refer to them, as Abbies. Short for Aberrations.”

Damion tried taking Megan’s words in but they were a jumble of different things and thoughts. His head felt as if it were spinning. Abbie. Was that that thing he ran into last night? That horrible, awful creature with the stench of blood? He felt sick to his stomach, when she told them it was impossible to survive surrounded by a herd of them.

_That could have been me last night if Pope hadn’t…with just one_

When the first part of orientation ended Damion hardly ate his lunch. He merely picked at his food like Helga. Ryan seemed to not be bothered by it at all, eating away. “Looks like they survived the first part of Orientation, Jason.”

Damion only lifted his head when Jason’s friends Sean and Matt joined the other at their table.

“I couldn’t eat for weeks after.” Matt commented.

Jason placed a hand on Damion’s shoulder. A caring touch. “Does any of this make sense to you, Dami?”

Damion paused. Lowering his head. “Not really…How come I’ve never heard of these Abbies before?” He asked. One would think that someone would have found an Abbie and have it shown on YouTube or something. Put it in a zoo. Plaster it’s picture all over the news.

Everyone listened as he spoke. Helga moved her food around absent mindedly with her fork. Ricky even stopped eating mid-chew. The thought of those things sinking back in.

“I mean think about it. They’re running around…in broad daylight, in IDAHO mind you,” he gave Jason a quizzical look. “I am in Idaho. Right?”

Jason’s lips twitched. He gives a faint chuckle. “Yes Damion…You’re still in Idaho. Eat up will you? The next part of your orientation begins soon.”

But Damion couldn’t eat. The thought of those Abbies, flashes of them devouring a human made him feel so sick. Looking over at Jason he wondered what else the other could have possibly hidden from him all the time he had been here.

**~_______________~**

During the next half of Orientation they were each given old, rusted coins. When Megan asks how old they thought they were Damion answered. “They’re old…real old. I’m guessing ancient Rome? Italy maybe?”

“There’s something on it to,” Helga said. “Can we scrape it off?”

Megan nodded. Hands folded neatly in front. As if she knew Helga would ask.

When the old dirt and grime had been wiped off, Damion held his up to get a better look. Looking at his teacher with a wondering expression. “It’s a quarter. How old is it?”

“You tell me.”

Damion peered closer. His eyes wide. Helga and Ricky didn’t have any better looks. “2095…Mrs. Fisher, I don’t-.” Helga breathed out.

Megan spoke with such calm unlike the three teens before her. As if this didn’t bother her one bit. “Let me ask you three something,” she began. “Do you remember anything before arriving in Wayward Pines?”

“Just that I was in a car accident.” Ricky muttered out. Not feeling so confident as he felt before.

“M-Me to.” Helga said.

Damion merely nodded his head.

“And do you remember anything after your accidents?”

Damion slowly breathed out. Gripping his hair gently. “I just remember, waking up in the hospital here…meeting Jason Higgins. That’s it.”

His heart hammered in his chest when she continued. Listening as she explained how they were ‘chosen’ to be here. “This is not the year, 2014,” she began. Looking at each of their expressions. Damion grips the sides of his chair tight. “It is the year…4028.”

Spinning.

The room felt as if it were spinning.

Ricky asks Megan how this is possible but their words are just nothing but distorted voices.

Future. Past.

Never talk about the past…one of the rules he remembers seeing in Pope’s office.

“The scientist wanted to save a select sample of humans. From this change. To preserve our kind as we once were,” she closed her eyes in a dreamy fashion. It didn’t make Damion feel any better in all honesty. Just even more sick. Disturbed. “So he created an ark. And that ark, is Wayward Pines.”

“So, who is this science dude?” Ricky questioned.

“His name is David Pilcher. Unfortunately, you will never meet David Pilcher; but take comfort in the fact he is ALWAYS watching over you.”

Damion swallowed. _That explains the camera’s all over this place_ he shuddered inward, but kept listening.

“You, are the future,” Megan continued. “You are…the First Generation. You do not tell your parents…” she paced back and forth. Helga’s face was a cottage cheese color. Ricky’s lips were pursed in a thin line. Damion couldn’t blame them. How could they keep something like this, no matter how their parents might react?

“There was one boy, before you all came here, who told his parents everything. Chris was a student just like you. He walked these very halls. He had friends. He had a girlfriend. But, after he learned the Truth…we learned of a tragic incident that had happened….”

She paused briefly. As if the news was still hard to take in, even after from so long.

“His father decided to pack up and leave,” Megan continued. Her tone softer. Gaze lowered some. “Before they left his father closed the garage door…his mom connected the garden hose…”

“They gassed themselves to death?” Damion asked with a slight shake in his voice. Watching as Megan gave a low nod.

“You’re correct, Damion…the Truth was too much for his parents to handle. The reality is, your parents,” referring to Helga and Ricky’s. “Have lived for too long in the old world. The Truth, is simply too much for their minds to handle. Now, please if you will follow me.”

She pressed a button on the wall and another door opened.

Damion sucked in a breath as he saw rows and rows of students, lined up in a darkened room holding candles in one hand. Standing in the middle in the front row was Jason. Each were given empty candles of their own, waiting to be lit.

Jason’s hand brushed against Damion’s when he lit his candle first. A few grins could be seen from the other students.

“Welcome to the First Generation.”

After there was pounding. Pounding on the desks with their free hand. The other still holding a lit candle. It echoed in Damion’s ears: Increasing. Louder and louder like a rhythmic chant of sorts.

**~____________________~**

“So: How do you feel?”

Jason asked him this when they walked home from school together. Damion never got a chance to say fare-well to Helga, for the girl darted home in a hurry while Ricky was back to his usual cocky self.

“It’s…” Damion began. Gripping his backpack tight. “A lot to take in…but I’ll be fine.” He flashed Jason an assuring grin.

The older of the two grinned in return. Nodding in approval.

“Damion.”

A harsh male voice sounded behind, startling Damion. Jason simply turned around in a calm manner. It was an older male who approached. Dressed in a dark blue shirt, black jacket and black pants.

For whatever reason he didn’t seem happy to see Damion.

“…Can I help you sir?” He asked with hesitance.

“Yeah. I need to talk to you: _Now_.”

The man dragged him some place where they wouldn’t be heard or seen. An old grave yard in the back of a town. Odd enough there were no names on the headstones. Damion flinched when his back made contact with a tree gazing up at the stranger in front of him, with a raised brow.

“Who are you?” He boldly asked.

“Ethan Burke,” a gruff tone to his voice. “You should know me: I worked with your mother, she’s a secret service agent like I am.”

A frown crossed Damion’s face. Well that was rich. He didn’t know who his mother was. Couldn’t even remember her name. As if she never existed. “I’m sorry sir…but I have no idea what you’re talking about. I don’t know my mother.”

Ethan gave him a perplexed look. Dumbfounded. “She went missing on a mission: Her name’s ‘Beverly Brown’, your last name is ‘Brown’, I was sent out to find her and I ended up in this crazy town instead.”

Now this guy was starting to concern Damion. He looked like someone who belonged in mental therapy rather than a normal towns folk. Shaking his head in disbelief, he gripped his bag tight.

“I’m really sorry man…but the only Beverly Brown I know, is from here. Well, I just met her I should say. She works at the restaurant slash bar place: Biergarten. Look, my friend’s still waiting for me. I gotta go.”

He was allowed to leave but Ethan grabbed him firm by the wrist. Pulling him back just a bit.

“Damion…You really don’t remember me? Or your mother?”

Damion shook his head slowly.

“What happened to your father? Older brother?”

“They’re dead…Car accident.”

And that was that. He quickly got out of the cemetery with unnamed headstones, soon finding himself back into town giving Jason a greeting. “Are you alright?” Jason asked. Looking him over. “He didn’t hurt you, did he?”

“I’m fine alright? He’s an odd duck but harmless. We were going to your place, right?”

 


	4. The Woman With His Eyes

Ethan Burke ran through Damion’s head the rest of the day.

Nothing made sense to him. He didn’t know what was reality or what was fiction: The Abbies, the fact he was in the year 4028 and definitely not in 2014, that there was no New York any more or any other civilization left other than Wayward Pines.

There was no TV. Although Damion did find a library Jason had, of books that ‘survived’. He ran his fingers along some of the rows before he found one that he vaguely remembered.

 _Edgar Allen Poe’s Complete Poems_ now that intrigued him. He had no idea Jason was into poetry. After turning the pages Damion smiled just a bit finding his favorite poem and a true classic.

“Once upon a midnight dreary…while I ponder weak and weary. Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore.”

He nearly jumped a foot in the air as Jason’s voice blended with his. Catching the heavy book before it hit the floor, chuckling sheepishly seeing the other standing in the living room.

“H-Hey. I was just-.”

“Pilcher got it for me,” Jason commented. Requesting it for a brief moment. “It was one of the few books that he found from the ‘old world’. Managed to refurbish it as a gift for me when I woke up from my sleep.”

Damion blinked. Thanking Jason for handing it back to him. “You actually met him? Mrs. Fisher said we’ll never see him.”

“Like I said: It was when I first woke up. He was there to see me according to Pam, his sister.” He clarified, referring to the nurse.

“I see. That’s pretty neat: Meeting this town’s creator…guess he doesn’t sound so bad.”

Sure the camera’s in the town were, well uncomfortable knowing they were literally watching every move you made. Just waiting to see someone slip up. But was it really THAT bad? He thought he had a pretty decent stay. He had friends, unlike back home that he suddenly stopped missing altogether. He was a member of the First Generation. He got good grades.

The only time he lowered his head had been to look down feeling Jason’s hand on his left shoulder.

“There’s a reason Pilcher wanted you to be here,” the older of the two continued. Placing a folder that read in bold lettering ‘DAMION WHITE’ on it. Watching as Damion opened it up. “He believes you can do great things for this town…”

“Teacher?” Damion spoke his future job out loud. Blinking in shock.

Their faces were so close.

Lips barely touching the other’s.

As soon as the phone rang, Jason answered it first quickly. Damion closing his file clearing his throat, waiting patiently as the other answers. Outside he can hear other phones ring. Almost in perfect sync.

“W-What’s going on?” He asked after Jason hung up.

“….You’re about to see your very first ‘Reckoning’, Dami. C’mon: Sean’s here to pick us up.”

**~_______________~**

Reckoning. It was a completely new word that Damion was not yet familiar with. He listened as Jason’s friend Sean explained while they drove, since he lived quite some ways from the town. Damion looked outside the back window to see people looking around seeming to search for something. Or rather someone.

Local kids from the academy ran toward the middle of the town street, as if their favorite pop or rock singer had arrived.

Looking up as they got out, he squinted. Peering over the crowd.

He could see that woman from the bar. Beverly Brown.

His head began to hurt. Why did that name sound so familiar? And not because he met her just a week ago.

“Beverly Brown tried to leave,” Sherriff Pope’s voice boomed over the chanting of the crowd. Jason and Sean led Damion up to where Pam Pilcher and a short man with glasses stood beside her. On his far right Damion could see Megan Fisher and a man he assumed to be her husband. His classmates Helga and Ricky and their parents.

“She discussed the past.”

Beverly’s wails echoed in his ears. He stiffened. Several others in the crowd looked just as uncomfortable as he.

“As I’ve said many times before….it is not just my job, to keep this town safe,” Pope continued. Damion could feel something grip at his heart watching as Beverly’s head was tilted back. A knife at her neck. “It’s everybody’s!”

“Justice!” Damion jumped hearing a man shout beside him. Jason merely nodded in agreement, mouthing the word.

“She deserves it!” Another shouted.

Blood. He could see blood down the side of her neck. Damion covered his mouth, eyes wide.

Flashes enter his mind. A woman who looks like Beverly. He’s three years old, crying. His knee an ugly red. It’s painful. Too painful for a three-year old to bear, but she doesn’t seem to mind at all of his crying.

She wipes his tears away with her thumb. Singing such a soft, gentle lullaby. Something that calmed him.

Her smile is the most beautiful thing he can remember of her.

The same smile given to him by this woman who worked at the restaurant…now executed publicly.

_I don’t understand…who is she to me?_

“Citizens of Wayward Pines: Will you join me? Do not try to leave!”

“Do not try to leave!” The citizens, including Damion respond.

“Do not discuss the past!”

“Savor the present…”

“Do not discuss your life before!”

“Let us accept each-other…for who we are today. Always answer the phone if it rings!”

“Always answer the phone if it rings!”

Now for the grand finale. “Work hard! Be happy! Enjoy your life in Wayward Pines!”

Damion watches as Beverly’s body is carried off the stage. A solemn look can be seen on his face.

“Mr. White.”

The short man with glasses turned to him, a gentle smile on his face with his hand held out, waiting for Damion to respond. The rest of the crowd began to return home after Pope dismisses everyone.

“I’m Dr. Jenkins: I just recalled I’ve yet to meet you personally.”

Damion smiled politely back, taking his hand in his. “Dr. Jenkins hello sir. It’s nice to meet you.”

“Your teacher, Mrs. Fisher has told me a lot about you young man. I sense a high possibility of a good future for you here, in Wayward Pines.”

Jason grinned. Clasping Damion on the shoulder from behind. “I’ll keep a close eye on him: Make sure he doesn’t bring any trouble to our wonderful community.”

Damion rolls his eyes at this. “Shouldn’t I be keeping an eye on you, Higgins?”

It was strange. Everyone talking and laughing after a woman was just executed in a horrible manner. But, if she didn’t truly mean anything to Damion then why should he care? Those flashes he had. Surely they were misunderstood. False memories that people tended to have. Where you think something had happened or you thought you remembered someone, but they were never truly a part of your life.

**~________________~**

Jason’s house seemed to be even more silent after Sean dropped them back off. Damion dragged himself in rubbing his eyes after they sat down on his leather couch. The day’s events having taken their toll on him. “What a tiring day.” He sighed wearily, letting out a yawn. So much he still has yet to fully take in.

“You and me both.” Jason nodded in agreement. Leaning back to rest his eyes. “Damion…What do you think of them? The Reckonings?”

“I…They’re new to me I know that much.”

“Do you think they’re right?”

His tone was questioning. Damion thought hard before answering. He didn’t believe in killing someone, if they broke a law. But Beverly did seem to break a pretty huge one. She broke one of the town’s major rules. Why did she discuss the past? If she hadn’t, then she would still be alive.

Damion nodded. “She broke a rule…Rule breakers deserve to be punished.”

“Are you happy here, Damion?”

“Of course. There’s nowhere else I’d rather be but here, in Wayward Pines.”

“That’s good. That’s very good. Do you need me to walk you home?”

Damion shook his head resisting the urge to roll his eyes. “I can walk myself home at night. I’m not a child.”

This made Jason laugh just a bit. Holding his hand in his for a brief moment. Fingers not yet intertwined. “Then I’ll see you at school tomorrow?”

“Sure thing. See you.”

When he opened Jason’s front door, Damion stopped only for a moment. Placing a hand where his heart was located he could feel it beating quite rapidly. Still imagining Jason Higgin’s hand in his.

With the widest of smiles over his face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So what do you think? Does Damion have a connection in some form, to Beverly? Let me know of your thoughts.


	5. Chosen

“My, someone’s happy today.”

Damion looked up from fixing a biology problem at the sound of Pam Pilcher’s teasing voice. He was at the Biergarten where Beverly Brown used to be bartender at. They filled her spot up real quick Damion couldn’t help but notice. As if she didn’t exist at all.

“…I have no idea what you’re talking about, Miss. Pilcher.” He responded quickly. Yet his eyes you could see it all. That little gleam or sparkle. Feeling utterly ridiculous feeling this way over just another human being.

The nurse he once thought of as ‘creepy’ made a low whistling sound, immediately sitting across from him at his table. Hands folded under her chin.

“Oh c’mon kiddo! I’m good at keeping secrets. I’m no Arlene.”

And that was true. From what he gathered, Arlene was quite the gossiper around town her and Henrietta. They were alright folks but couldn’t resist letting a juicy story hide among themselves.

Damion exhaled slowly. Closing his book. “Alright, alright. Well…You know Jason Higgins ma’am?”

“I do indeed…now go on.”

He scratched his hair a bit. Biting the inside of his cheek gently. “Well, last night after the…well the ‘Reckoning’ as you guys call it. I…When he held my hand I got this weird but, but really good feeling…a REALLY good feeling. I haven’t felt this way in a long time after one break up I had.”

Amber Walson. An average looking girl with good-grades. They dated about a month before he caught her and a member of the football team in a ‘compromising position’ in the boy’s locker room.

They still remained friends but it was always very awkward when her new lover was around.

“Very interesting,” Pam held a little sparkle in her eyes. “So you’re telling me that you ‘like’ Jason?” She did little air quotes with her index fingers at the word like.

He nodded lowly. Looking around in case any of his classmates were eaves dropping or Jason himself walked in. “Kind of…yeah. So what should I do?”

She leaned forward on her elbows. “My advice Damion? Don’t hold back with your feelings, kiddo. Trust me that it doesn’t make things ANY better. Don’t be pushy mind you but just bold. You get me?”

“Bold. Yeah. Yeah I think I can do that. Thanks.”

Pam chuckled. “Any-time kid. Good luck.”

Oh. He’ll need all the luck he could get with this one.

During school Damion felt his anxiety run increasingly high. He had a few suitors, but none interested him. Jason had been the one he tried searching for. A sudden cheering caught his attention when two students holding onto one another’s hand thrusted them high in the air.

Someone had done the same to him in return. His hand roughly grabbed, held up high. Damion gritted his teeth when the taller of the two tried claiming him by intertwining their fingers together.

No.

Jason. That was the only one on his mind. Not this brute of a football player.

“He’s mine.”

The cafeteria became silent. Although Jason wasn’t nearly as tall as this young man was, he boldly took long strides forward. Motioning the thug to let go of Damion.

He could feel himself gently lowered back to the floor, giving the football player a side glaring look giving Jason a thankful one. His heart racing once again as their hands fit into each-others. Jason’s thumb tenderly running over Damion’s wrist.

The crowd applauded with a few girls clapping half-heartedly for Jason and a few mixes for Damion. As they walked hand in hand their names were added to the list of new couples at Wayward Pines Academy.

All was as it should be. How David Pilcher, whom Damion had yet to meet wanted it to be.

**~_______________________~**

Ethan Burke, now reunited with his wife Theresa and son Ben paced back and forth in their new home. The one that originally belonged to Beverly. Ben had since fallen asleep after the day’s events but sleep did not agree with Ethan.

Theresa frowned in thought when he mentioned Damion not knowing who Beverly was. Gripping her warm, cup of coffee gently.

“He was only three years old, Beverly wasn’t around a whole lot remember?” Theresa spoke gently and carefully.

Ethan shook his head. Eyebrows furrowed. “The kid didn’t even know if he had a mother or not, Theresa. He was only three. He has to have SOME kind of memory of her. How can you forget a whole person? Let alone the one who gave birth to you.”

“It sounds like he’s been through a lot lately. Just give him time. You can’t force him to remember her.”

A despondent sigh escaped. Ethan ran a tired hand down his face. If Damion remembered, he could only imagine the look on the poor kid’s face knowing he just witnessed his mother’s public execution.

“Beverly was so hurt,” he murmured. Feeling Theresa’s hand gently over his. “She said it was like talking to a stranger when he first showed up in her restaurant…”

“I can imagine. She loved Damion so much.”

Theresa couldn’t fathom the thought of Ben in Damion’s position right now. Not knowing who his own parents were. What an awful thing to think about.

“Let’s get some shut eye…got a long road ahead of us. If I see Damion, I’ll try talking to him. Just casually.”

She nodded in agreement. “The last thing we want is to give him any trauma.”


	6. Explosion

**October 23rd**

An annual fall dance was held where most of the students were required to attend, with a partner of course just for those watching could see how well their chemistry was. Damion was a nervous wreck however going with Jason. He wasn’t the best dancer around. Sure to embarrass himself.

He had Megan Fisher help with his tie since his hands were shaking too bad to tie it properly.

“You look wonderful!” Megan clapped her hands once together.

“I do? Really? Oh man…I’m so nervous.”

Damion never had an interest in school dances in truth. This would be his very first time at such event, the last thing he wanted was to make a total fool out of himself.

“Don’t be,” Megan chuckled. She was dressed elegantly herself. Jason’s friend Sean told him there weren’t really any chaperones to watch over them…no surprise. What with the ‘pro-creation’ thing they had going on. “Oh I remember my first dance. My date was a bit taller than I was being a football player and all. I was rather clumsy myself. I swear, his poor feet were swollen from all the time I stepped on them rather than away. But he just laughed it off. It may not have been what some would call a perfect evening.

But to us…it was. And I’m sure, that Jason will adore you. Look at you with so much love that he won’t care how good of a dancer you are.”

Damion smiled perhaps just a bit. Megan Fisher. She really wasn’t so bad after all…she was human. Not some creepy teacher like he thought and many others.

“Okay. I think I’m ready.”

“Shall we?” She offered her arm in his, with Damion leading her out.

The school grounds formed with students of the First Generation and Class One students. Damion waved to Jason after the older waved him over, both walking hand in hand inside. Everything inside was beautifully decorated. The art class were made to make sure it was the best yet.

A moon hung above along with a multitude of stars.

Girls in dresses of the finest silks. Boys in the fanciest tuxedos.

“You nervous?” Jason asked.

“I was, but not so much now.”

Finally, they were out on the dance floor taking their positions. Damion took a slow breath when the music began to play, letting Jason do the leading with himself trying to follow. Everyone seemed to be in perfect sync with the music. Classical at first.

“There you go,” Jason smiled. “Now you’re getting it.”

In truth Damion was just mimicking what others were doing. He had no clue, having forgotten some of the lessons Megan gave him. From a distance Megan could see them. Spinning, smiling and even laughing. She smiled warmly at the sight. Happy to see Jason like this. When he was a boy he always looked as if something or someone was missing from his life.

His adopted mother, Pam gave Jason anything he wanted, but that never seemed to do anything. Now she understood.

Before they closed the distance however there was a powerful explosion.

It was so loud, so strong it sent nearly everyone to their knees. Couples held onto one another. Some were screaming or shouting.

Damion looked to Jason with wide eyes.

“We have to see if someone’s hurt…Come on!”

They dashed out with haste.

A woman covered in burns was on the side-walk, medics from the hospital tried to revive her but she was already gone. Even Damion could unfortunately see that. In the middle of the street he could see a truck just engulfed in flames. A dead driver.

Standing a few feet from it he spotted sheriff Burke and a battered Amy.

“Amy!” He and Jason called out.

Ethan asked her where Ben was. She pointed to the left. Blood dripped from her forehead down her face, her arms and legs weak from the burns. “Can you two get her to the hospital?” He asked Damion and Jason quick.

“Of course sheriff,” Damion motioned Amy to sling her arm around his shoulder, the other around Jason’s. “Okay, okay there we go…hospital’s not far.”

Damion didn’t see what state Ben was in. He couldn’t. Anger boiled inside him. How could someone do this, to innocent children? Terrorism of all things, in such a peaceful town. “Help!” Jason waved down to male nurses. “We need help!”

They gently took Amy without any hesitation.

Ethan came in not too long after with an unconscious Ben over his shoulder. Damion almost blanched at the side of Ben’s face just soaking with blood.

“What happened?” Pam quickly arrived at Ben’s side.

“Truck exploded.” Ethan panted out.

“Prep radiology now!”

“Are you two alright?” Pam asked looking Jason and Damion over fast.

“We’re fine. It was just Ben and Amy.” Damion replied, watching as she made a beeline back for the other boy. He can hear her assuring Ethan that the children will be fine. That they were Wayward Pine’s most cherished.

“What about Amy?” Jason questioned. “Can we see her?”

The male doctor shook his head. “She just went into shock: You can see her first thing in the morning.”

**~____________________~**

Anger. That was the only, logical feeling Damion or Jason felt at this moment.

Only one person came to Jason’s mind. Harold Ballinger and his ‘wifey’ Kate. He thought those two had been acting rather ‘different’ as of late. Not like the model towns folk Pilcher deemed them to be.

“So what now?”

He glanced up to see Damion on the couch. Hand curled in a tight fist.

Jason looked back at the clock. Midnight.

“…I think it’s time to pay some traitors, a little ‘visit’.”


	7. Reckoning (Pt One)

It was quiet that evening. That fateful night Damion will never forget. Forever imprinted in his memory.

He was in the back of Jason’s car with Sean. Matt was driving. No one uttered a single word. _Do you really want to do this, Damion?_ A little voice echoed in the back of his mind. Chewing the inside of his cheek. A voice that oddly reminded him of Beverly Brown. _You know that once you start, there’s no turning back_

Damion knew that. He knew it all too well what he was getting into. His stomach churned. If Arlene wouldn’t cooperate…Jason would…

The car halted in front of the sheriff’s department.

He exhaled slow breaths. Following Jason like the perfect little soldier he was. “Excuse me you cannot go in there.” Arlene halted the group from venturing to the office.

Jason towered over her. Trying to intimidate Arlene. “We’re looking for the sheriff.”

“….Well he’s not in right now?”

“Then where is he?” Jason replied, perhaps a little snarky then Damion liked. It was like watching a tennis match as he and Arlene retorted back and forth.

“It’s none of your damn business.”

“Oh I think it is,” he held up the hand showing his gold Class One ring. “Class One of the academy.”

Arlene narrowed her eyes at Damion who all but averted her gaze. Knowing she must think so lowly of him now. He had to admit, she had guts standing up to four guys like this. Arlene knew how to stand her ground.

“See,” Jason continued. The atmosphere in the room felt heavier by the second. “We take the rules of this town very seriously…unlike your ‘sheriff’.”

Arlene hissed back. “Ethan Burke takes the rules of the town very. Seriously.”

Damion wishes she’d stop looking at him.

“I thought blowing up kids was against the rules. Wouldn’t you say, Dami?”

Swallowing he gave a low nod. Still not looking directly at Arlene. “They put Ben and Amy in the hospital. Two innocent children. I’d say that’s out of line.”

Jason continued. “And if you break the rules, you have to be Reckoned.”

Beverly flashes in his mind. Seeing her tied up like some animal for slaughter. Her wails echoing. He has to shake his head to block it all out.

“I will tell him NO such thing…Now you skedaddle. Or I’ll have the four of you locked up, do you hear me?”

Sean gave her a cocky smirk. “Skedaddle?”

“You really want to put us in the cell, with those traitors?”

Arlene glared them down. Speaking calm yet with the voice of a general. “Get the hell out of here. Now…”

Jason’s face hardened. His dark brown eyes ablaze. Damion noticed his hand slowly beginning to raise up, stopping him from smacking Arlene. “Jason come on. We’re done here…Let’s go.” Jason’s hand gripped his, almost bruising tight but Damion doesn’t flinch.

The older of the two mutters to Arlene ‘Tell him’ before he finally and swiftly leaves the building.

**~____________________~**

Jason’s head was resting on Damion’s lap. His eyes closed, liking the feeling of the other’s fingers running through his hair.

“Jason. Are you sure it’s what you really want to do?” Damion blurted out. Watching as his eyes eventually opened.

“It has to be done. Damion.” His hands clenched tight.

Damion knew Kate was in the wrong. But the Reckonings. They were so brutal.

“But…what if Kate and the others ‘redeemed’ themselves somehow?” Damion muttered.

Jason’s brow rose in confusion. This, as far he was concerned was an act of terrorism. Terrorist’s did not repent their actions. “Don’t tell me you’re softening up to them, Damion.” He responded coolly.

“No that’s…” Damion shook his head. Biting the inside of his cheek. “I’m not doing that. Just, do we really have to kill people?”

He feels Jason shift, now in a sitting position on the other side of Damion. Dark brown eyes staring quizzically. “Are you questioning the laws of our town?” Damion shook his head again. “Do you think traitors should get off scott-free, for hurting children?” Again he shakes his head. “This is how Wayward Pines is, Damion. We aren’t like others…we aren’t soft. If we’re soft, that’s what’ll get us killed.

Once a traitor, always a traitor. Once a terrorist. Always a terrorist.”

Damion paused to take a breath, his eyes averting to one of the cameras in his home. In the far left corner of the living room ceiling. They were watching him right now. To see if he was faking. He knew it. Waiting for just the right moment.

Lips are pressed light over his.

“Come on. Let’s go to bed…We’ve got a long day ahead of us, tomorrow.”

“Right…” Damion muttered.

Tomorrow. His stomach clenched at the thought. Tomorrow was the day they’d take ‘action’. And for once, Damion felt horribly unsure.


	8. Reckoning (pt Two)

They first went to the hospital where they learned Ben Burke was up. A cluster of students. Damion noticed Helga and Ricky, Helga spoke up asking of Amy’s condition. “I know that you’re all worried,” he began. “I am too…Amy’s in surgery right now and…” He pauses. Megan places a gentle hand on his shaken shoulder. “We won’t know anything, for a couple of hours.”

Several shocked gasps could be heard. Damion’s eyes widened. He didn’t think her condition was that serious.

Ben proceeded in thanking them all for coming to support. “What those people did to her…it was wrong. I just heard about another attack.”

He swallowed, looking at Jason then the other two. Two attacks in one week?

“When’s your dad gonna reckon them?” Jason called out.

Ben shook his head. He himself seemed angered of what he was about to say. “He’s not going to.”

Damion clenched his fists, following after Jason apologizing to some students when the other roughly shoved them out of his way. He couldn’t believe this. Ethan’s own son was almost killed and no punishment was to be delivered?

That re-ignited a new feeling. A feeling Damion had not felt before.

_Meanwhile…_

Arlene could be seen at her desk. Kate Ballinger, her husband and another man paced about in their cells. Waiting for their fate. The only time Kate lifted her head had been to hear the sound of screeching tires. The sound of car doors slamming.

Glass broke. She could see Arlene running for the phone. “What’s going on?” Her hands gripped the cell bars tight. “Arlene!”

“Keys…” Jason approached her. Damion on his right. “Give me the-don’t look at them!” He snapped, noting the way Arlene looked up at the camera. “Arlene, don’t look at them. They won’t help you, they’re on our side…”

Damion could feel Kate and Harold’s eyes on him. He hates it. The same look Arlene gave him last night. What was he doing that was so wrong? They were just protecting their town. It was for the people.

Arlene spat in Jason’s face. An unmistakable look of anger could be seen. Damion and Sean looked at one another as he man-handled Arlene: Keeping a good hold on her, chaining her hand up to the file cabinet.

“Don’t you dare touch them!” Arlene hollered.

“Or what?” Jason let out a humorless laugh. “Your sheriff’ll throw us in the cell? Maybe give us a hug?” He began unlocking the cabinet where the rifles were. “I know what he won’t do: Reckon us!”

“You two,” Kate began. Damion bit the inside of his cheek. “I-I know you. You’re Jason, right? Jason Higgins? A-And Beverly’s boy…Damion?”

Damion’s breath hitched. What did she just say? “Beverly?” He uttered out. Shaking his head. “No. No m-my last name…It’s White.”

Kate shook her head. Calm. Collected. Not believing that this was HER son. Not the Damion she remembered. “Jason: You walked into our store, asking for a toy soldier one day. You were eight maybe ten. Harold,” she pointed at the man beside her. “H-He carved it just for you…and Damion.

I-I remember your mother. She…She would bring you, to our store to. You were crying one day, after falling on the side walk outside. I helped her clean your skinned knee…we gave her a discount on a dolphin Harold made for you. That was your favorite animal.”

What?

None of this was making sense.

Damion’s breathing quickened. He shook his head. Three years old. Here? “That’s impossible. I-My mother…I never knew her. She…She was always away…” He choked out. “And I’m from New York. Not here.”

Kate spoke once again. Dear God what did THEY do to this poor kid? “Honey…You were taken from your mother. That’s why. They kidnapped you from her. She tried for so many years to find you but she had no idea you were here…Living with that other man and his son.”

Spinning. The room felt it was spinning again.

Voices were distorted. Merging together.

Jason’s. Sean’s. Kate trying to reason with him.

Nothing made sense. Beverly’s face flashing in his mind. He has HER eyes and smile.

Then his world darkened.

**~________________`**

Brown eyes fluttered open revealing a dark grey, cement ceiling. His head was pounding. Slowly sitting up, Damion whimpered at the pain finding he was in a jail cell. Jason laid unconscious on the bed. His left side stained with blood crudely patched up.

“You’re awake…”

Damion looked to see Ethan Burke entering the cell. He didn’t seem angry. Just deeply hurt. “Mr. Burke. What happened?”

Ethan sat down beside him. One arm propped over his left leg. “Kate’s husband….was gunned down. So were the other three involved. Jason got caught in the cross fire.” He decided to not tell Damion the truth. That Jason was actually the one who murdered them in cold blood. He’d already been through enough as is.

“And Kate?”

“She’s recovering.”

No words were spoken for a while. Damion got up, slowly walking over to Jason holding his slight cold hand. Smiling gently. “He was the first person I saw in the hospital....I do wonder though. If…If he knew her. My mother…”

Ethan could see his shoulders quiver. Unable to fathom how he was taking all this in. “Damion. We tried so hard looking for you. Beverly was in hysterics…when she said Pilcher got you.”

“I never got to say good-bye.”

Tears threaten to fall from his eyes. Damion blinks them quickly away.

“She loved you. More than anything in the world,” Ethan chuckled softly. Remembering the photos she’d share at work when she could. And that story of Damion running down the streets butt naked with a cop chasing after him. She laughed so hard tears ran down her face. “Kate was right. Beverly told me she looked high and low for you. Not knowing you were in this town all those years…Until you showed up at her restaurant that day.”

He takes another deep breath. Wiping his eyes. “Do you have a picture of her? So I don’t forget again?”

Ethan nodded. Shuffling through his pocket to take out an old one in his wallet, offering it to Damion. Watching as the other gazed with fondness.

“….Are you going to reckon Kate?”

“She wants me to. What are you going to do about Jason?”

“I’m going to stay…with him. To be here when he wakes up, like he did for me.”

Ethan’s lips almost pursed. Jason was a bad seed. But Damion was a tough kid. “You sure?”

“I’ll be fine. Trust me.”

As soon as Ethan left, Damion turned to Jason’s unconscious form. Beverly’s picture tucked in his left pocket.

He didn’t know how many hours had passed when the lights shut completely off.

Enclosing them in a thick darkness.


	9. Ashes, Ashes, We All Fall Down

**Nine**

“Okay,” he gripped his hair tight. Pacing back and forth. “Okay. Okay. Don’t panic. Don’t panic.” So the power was cut. No big deal. Power outages didn’t last for long right? They should be fine. He tried telling himself this over and over in his mind. “Power outages are common….right.”

“If you keep talking to yourself, they’ll label you as mental.”

Damion nearly jumped a foot in the air, whirling around to find Jason. He was still in clear pain from the bullet wound, grimacing. “Jason,” he breathed out. Helping him stand properly. Not caring if blood got on his shirt. “You alright? No stupid question. Of course you aren’t.”

“I’m fine,” Jason spoke through gritted teeth. Breathing slowly out. “Sean? Matt? You still here?”

“We’re right beside you.” Sean commented. “In the other cell.”

“Oh man,” Matt shook his head. “This is just like in the zombie comics I used to read. Power outages ALWAYS happen before an apocalypse.”

“I think there’s something far scarier than zombies man.” Damion muttered.

Oh and there was. He saw one up close and personal after all. He wondered if that one was truly dead and Pope just merely grazed him with a bullet. Everything is silent at first, until they freeze. A shadow ran past their cells. Then two more. Damion covered his mouth to silence any breathing. Footsteps were approaching. Closer. Closer.

“Charlie?!” Sean’s voice sounded from the other cell.

“Hey! Key’s: Where are the keys?”

“In the gun locker. Over there!”

The minute Damion and Jason’s door had opened, he wasn’t sure if he should tackle Charlie in a hug or not. “You alright? Can you walk?”

Jason nodded. Yet the pain is still clear on his face. “Yeah. I’ll be alright. Did everyone else make it to the Ark?”

“Most,” Charlie explained. Damion knew that may not be the truth. “Abbies are everywhere in town. We should stay here?”

“If we stay here we’re dead,” Damion spoke up. “I’ll help hold as many off I possibly can and make sure the others make it to the Ark.”

Helga. Ricky. Those two had better made it. He didn’t know them well but he feared for the worst for those two. “Are you sure?” Jason questioned.

“Positive. Just get going alright? I’ll catch up.”

Damion gives Jason a quick, chaste kiss after having Mike toss him a rifle.

It was as if an atomic bomb had struck the town. Cars were over turned or on fire. People lay dead in the streets smeared with blood on the roads and buildings. Abbies from every angle. He managed to save Ricky from being devoured, shooting one Abbie away kneeling to his level. “Where’s Helga?!” He hollered above the screams, cries and roars.

“I-I don’t know! She was right with me then I lost her!” Ricky exclaims. His eyes are wide. Darting around for any sight calling for the girl.

She was nowhere to be found.

An Abbie charged the minute it laid eyes on them. “Oh shit!” Ricky panicked.

“C’mon! In here!”

They ran like hell inside a store. Locking it and closing just in time, closing the Abbie’s face in crushing it to death. “I’m over here!”

Damion whipped his head around to find a familiar girl with dark hair and frightened blue/green eyes cowering in a corner. “Are you alright?” Ricky ran to her first, kneeling to her level. Her right arm had several deep scratches and her legs but she was alive miraculously.

“My arms and legs sting but I’m fine,” she gasped out when they helped her to her feet. “Where’s Jason?”

“He’s with the others,” Damion assured her. “C’mon. We can’t stay here for long. These windows are made of-.” Just as he almost finished his sentence an ear piercing scream left Helga, when an Abbie jumped straight through the glass window. “Glass…RUN!”

Ricky picked Helga up on his back. She’d be a goner if she tried running.

Blood of the Abbie’s smeared Damion’s face and clothes, he looked like a red face painted ancient warrior.

“Sixteen…Seventeen…”

Ricky shot him a look of disbelief. They were nearing the academy now. “Are you actually COUNTING?”

Damion gave him a weak grin, before he could reply however an Abbie jumped him from behind. He howled when it dug at his face. Scratching at his left eye. The pain was worse than anything he felt before.

He couldn’t see a thing. It was gouged.

Half of his vision was blurred, but he could see someone from the academy race down the steps dragging him up. They walked down the darkened hallways, fortunately no Abbies were in the school…yet any-way.

“Damion? Are you still with me?”

Sean.

“Fine…” His speech was slurred some. “Where’s the others?”

With his one good eye, Damion could see his fellow classmates. His fellow First Generation. Jason was among them telling Sean he could take Damion from here.

“Dami: Riley and Helga, where are they?”

“I…They were just behind me.”

Several Abbies had stormed towards the school. He didn’t want to know what their fates were.

“They’ll catch up. I’m sure, we’ll fix you up in a bit alright?” Jason gave him a tender kiss below where he lost his left eye. Focusing on the others next. “Pilcher planned for a flood like this…He left this. Everything we could ever need.”

“What about Benjamin Burke and his family?”

Nobody answered.

“Just rest, Damion,” Jason murmured. Resting his face against the top of his head. “Sleep for now.”

Sleep.

It didn’t take long for that to overtake him. He was out within seconds. The pained screams and cries of the citizens of Wayward Pines, forever echoing in his ears…


	10. Only The Beginning (Final)

**End of Act One**

_Year 4032_

The skies were a calm, cloudless blue. The town of Wayward Pines has since been rebuilt back to its glory after the Aberration invasion in the year 4028. Deputy sheriff Damion White Higgins was off duty for now. His badge glistening in the evening sun on the left side of his jacket. An eye-patch seen over his left eye from the accident years prior.

A smile crossed his face seeing a pair of siblings run pass him, waving when they gave him his usual greeting. “Morning Mr. Higgins!” The girl greeted.

“Morning Dawn, Aaron.” He greeted back.

Good kids they were. Stayed out of trouble.

The only time he looked up from his writing had been when Jason Higgins, his husband sat beside him. A vanilla ice-cream in his left hand and a chocolate swirl in his right for Damion. “Got you your favorite: Thought you could use one.”

“Hey thanks.” Damion leaned over to kiss him on the corner of his lips, feeling the other wrap his arm around his shoulders enjoying the peacefulness of the town together.

From the corner of his good eye, it widened slightly seeing a rather familiar young man. Dark brown hair. A grey jacket with white under shirt. Blue jeans. Faint bruises seen on his face walking around like a town drunkard.

Jason seemed to notice for he kept close eyes on him. One leg propped over the other.

“….Beautiful day today huh?”

Damion nodded. “I couldn’t agree more.”

Not at all noticing the fowl stench of the rotted bodies hanging up around town just above them. Warning signs around their necks.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that is that. Part two will be uploaded ASAP <3 Got a lot of other things working on so it may take a while to post, part two. Thank you to those who read this! Stay tuned.

**Author's Note:**

> So I present to you my second Wayward Pines fanfic. I've got so many plot bunnies from this show so don't be too surprised if you see others pop up ha. It's been my summer 'addiction' as of late. So glad I got into it from the beginning.
> 
> I've already written the first 'act' out. Just brainstorming as of now for the second arc.


End file.
